Alessandro Nivola
Encyclopedia
Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles in the films Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans is a 1999 American crime film directed by Mike Barker.-Plot:Bryce is a successful man who returns to his tiny hometown for a visit. While there, he runs into his old friend Nick . The two decide to go out for the night. When they enter a bar, Bryce encounters Lissa , a blonde...

, Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science fiction film and the third of the Jurassic Park franchise. It is the only film in the series that is neither directed by Steven Spielberg nor based on a book by Michael Crichton, though numerous scenes in the movie were taken from Crichton's two books,...

, Face/Off
Face/Off
Face/Off is a 1997 action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another....

, and the first two films of the Goal! trilogy.

Personal life

Nivola was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Pietro S. Nivola, is a professor of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 who wrote the book Laws of the Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and America, and his mother is an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

. Nivola's paternal grandfather was the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 sculptor Costantino Nivola
Costantino Nivola
Costantino Nivola was an Italian sculptor. He is the grandfather of actor Alessandro Nivola.- Birth and upbringing :...

 and his paternal grandmother, Ruth Guggenheim, was a Jewish refugee from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He has a brother, Adrian, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

, and earned a degree in English from Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

. Nivola married British actress Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....

 in Chiltern
Chiltern (district)
Chiltern is one of four local government districts of Buckinghamshire in south central England. It is named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits.The main towns in the district are Amersham and Chesham...

, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

 in January 2003; the couple have a son, Samuel John, born in Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, on September 23, 2003. They also have a daughter, May, born on January 15, 2010. They used to live in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in Echo Park. They are currently living in Boerum Hill
Boerum Hill
Boerum Hill is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn that occupies 36 blocks bounded by State Street to the north, 4th Avenue to the east, Smith Street to the west, and Warren Street to the south. Commercial strips line Smith Street and Atlantic...

  Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

  New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He had fellow actor Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

 as a neighbor.

Career

Nivola began his acting career while still an undergraduate at Yale, landing the leading role in a Seattle production of Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...

's Master Harold...and the Boys
Master Harold...and the Boys
Master Harold...and the boys is a play by Athol Fugard. It was first produced at the Yale Repertory Theatre in early 1982 and made its premiere on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on 4 May where it ran for 344 performances...

. After college, Nivola debuted on Broadway in 1995 as the young lover of Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

 in A Month in the Country
A Month in the Country (play)
A Month in the Country is a comedy in five acts by Ivan Turgenev. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855...

. The next year he appeared in the 1996 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 miniseries Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel
Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel , better known as Danielle Steel, is an American romantic novelist and author of mainstream dramas....

's The Ring
and landed his first film role as Joanna Going
Joanna Going
Joanna C. Going is an American actress.-Early life and education:Born in Washington, D.C., she is the oldest of six children of Lorraine M...

's preppy husband in Inventing the Abbotts
Inventing the Abbotts
Inventing the Abbotts is a 1997 romance film directed by Pat O'Connor, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly, and Michael Keaton. The screenplay by Ken Hixon is based on a short story by Sue Miller. The original music score is composed by Michael Kamen...

before being cast as Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...

's paranoid schizophrenic brother in John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...

's Face/Off
Face/Off
Face/Off is a 1997 action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another....

(both in 1997).

Nivola adopted an English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

 accent to play a mystery man from former girlfriend Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...

's past in I Want You
I Want You (1998 film)
I Want You is an 1998 English crime film directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Plot:Martin is an ex-convict who returns home and finds that Helen , his former girlfriend is involved with someone else...

(1998), directed by Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...

. He then appeared in the thriller Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans is a 1999 American crime film directed by Mike Barker.-Plot:Bryce is a successful man who returns to his tiny hometown for a visit. While there, he runs into his old friend Nick . The two decide to go out for the night. When they enter a bar, Bryce encounters Lissa , a blonde...

and again as an Englishman
Englishman
Englishman may refer to:*English people*Grey Partridge*Jason Englishman, Canadian rock music singer and guitarist*Jenny-Bea Englishman, real name of the Canadien singer Esthero*Erald Briscoe, reggae musician who records under the name Englishman...

 in Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Rozema was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. Her parents, Jacoba Berandina and Jan Rozema, were Dutch Calvinists. Television was severely restricted and she didn’t go to a movie theatre until she...

's screen version
Mansfield Park (film)
Mansfield Park is a 1999 British romantic comedy-drama film loosely based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name, written and directed by Patricia Rozema. The film differs sharply from the original novel in many respects. For example, the life of Jane Austen is incorporated into the film and the...

 of the Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...

 novel, Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park may mean:* Mansfield Park by Jane Austen* Mansfield Park , based on the novel, directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor, Embeth Davidtz, and Sheila Gish in 1999...

, both in 1999. He played a rock singer involved with his record producer, played by Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand is an American film and stage actress. She has starred in a number of films, including her Academy Award-winning performance as Marge Gunderson in Fargo, in 1996...

, in the film Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon (film)
Laurel Canyon is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko. The film stars Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, and Alessandro Nivola.-Plot:...

. Nivola was one of the faces for the GAP
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...

's 2002 Ads campaign "For Every Generation".

Nivola trained hard for the filming of the Goal! trilogy, and has picked up a lot of skill and pace and was commended for his sudden burst of talent by the directors of Goal! 2. In the film Coco avant Chanel
Coco avant Chanel
Coco Before Chanel is a 2009 French film directed by Anne Fontaine, about the early life of the famed French fashion designer Coco Chanel....

, Nivola again played an Englishman and learned to speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for the role.

In 2010, Nivola appeared in the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 play A Lie of the Mind
A Lie of the Mind
A Lie of the Mind is a play written by Sam Shepard, first staged at the off-Broadway Promenade Theater on 5 December 1985. The play was directed by Shepard himself with stars Harvey Keitel as Jake, Amanda Plummer as Beth, Aidan Quinn as Frankie, Geraldine Page as Lorraine, and Will Patton as Mike...

, directed by Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

 at the Theatre Row
Theatre Row (New York City)
Theatre Row is the popular name for a section of 42nd Street in New York City which is the location for a number of small theatres; it is also the name of a large theatre complex built in 2000 to house six theatres....

 in New York City.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1997 Inventing the Abbotts
Inventing the Abbotts
Inventing the Abbotts is a 1997 romance film directed by Pat O'Connor, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly, and Michael Keaton. The screenplay by Ken Hixon is based on a short story by Sue Miller. The original music score is composed by Michael Kamen...

Peter Vanlaningham
Face/Off
Face/Off
Face/Off is a 1997 action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another....

Pollux Troy
1998 I Want You
I Want You (1998 film)
I Want You is an 1998 English crime film directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Plot:Martin is an ex-convict who returns home and finds that Helen , his former girlfriend is involved with someone else...

Martin
Reach the Rock
Reach the Rock
Reach the Rock is a 1998 film directed by William Ryan.-Plot:A small town troublemaker , directionless and alienated, ends up spending a night in a jail cell, where he and the police chief engage in a battle of wills and wit.The soundtrack featured a compilation of Chicago-based Post-Rock artists,...

Robin
1999 Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans
Best Laid Plans is a 1999 American crime film directed by Mike Barker.-Plot:Bryce is a successful man who returns to his tiny hometown for a visit. While there, he runs into his old friend Nick . The two decide to go out for the night. When they enter a bar, Bryce encounters Lissa , a blonde...

Nick
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park (film)
Mansfield Park is a 1999 British romantic comedy-drama film loosely based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name, written and directed by Patricia Rozema. The film differs sharply from the original novel in many respects. For example, the life of Jane Austen is incorporated into the film and the...

Henry Crawford
Henry Crawford
Henry Crawford is one of the main characters in Jane Austen's 1814 novel, Mansfield Park. He is depicted as a man who only attempts to amuse himself, and at the end is proven to be a reprobate.-First Arrival to Mansfield Park:...

2000 Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost (2000 film)
Love's Labour's Lost is a 2000 adaptation of the comic play of the same name by William Shakespeare, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. It was the first feature film to be made of this lesser-known comedy...

King Ferdinand of Navarre
Timecode
Timecode (film)
Timecode is a 2000 American experimental film directed by Mike Figgis.The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously...

Joey Z
2001 Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science fiction film and the third of the Jurassic Park franchise. It is the only film in the series that is neither directed by Steven Spielberg nor based on a book by Michael Crichton, though numerous scenes in the movie were taken from Crichton's two books,...

Billy Brennan
2002 Imprint Matt Short film
Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon (film)
Laurel Canyon is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko. The film stars Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, and Alessandro Nivola.-Plot:...

Ian McKnight
2003 Carolina
Carolina (film)
Carolina is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Marleen Gorris, starring Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, Alessandro Nivola, Mika Boorem, Randy Quaid, and Jennifer Coolidge. Lisa Sheridan has a cameo role in the film, and Barbara Eden has the uncredited part of Daphne. It is set in Los Angeles,...

Albert Morris
2004 The Clearing
The Clearing
The Clearing is a 2004 American drama film and the directorial debut of Pieter Jan Brugge, who has worked as a film producer. The film is loosely based on the real-life kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn that took place in the Netherlands in 1987...

Tim Hayes
2005 Junebug
Junebug (film)
Junebug is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by Phil Morrison. It was released on August 3, 2005 and stars Amy Adams, Alessandro Nivola, Embeth Davidtz, and Benjamin McKenzie...

George Johnsten
The Sisters
The Sisters (2005 film)
The Sisters is a 2005 film starring Maria Bello, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Erika Christensen as the title characters; it also stars Alessandro Nivola, Rip Torn, Eric McCormack, Steven Culp, Tony Goldwyn and Chris O'Donnell...

Andrew Prior
Turning Green
Turning Green (film)
Turning Green is a 2009 Irish-American dark comedy written and directed by Michael Aimette and John G. Hofmann. The script was a runner up in the original Project Greenlight on HBO. Donal Gallery stars as James Powers, a displaced American teenager living in Ireland in 1979 who discovers girlie...

Bill the Bookie
Goal!
Goal! (film)
Goal! is a 2005 film directed by Danny Cannon. It is the first installment of a trilogy also named Goal!. This film was made with full cooperation from FIFA, which is one of the reasons actual teams and players are used throughout the film...

Gavin Harris
2006 The Darwin Awards
The Darwin Awards (film)
The Darwin Awards is a 2006 American adventure comedy film based on the website of the same name.Written and directed by Finn Taylor, the film premiered January 25, 2006, at the Sundance Film Festival...

Ad Exec
2007 Grace Is Gone
Grace Is Gone (film)
Grace Is Gone is a 2007 drama film starring John Cusack as a father who does not want to tell his two daughters that their mother has died while serving in Iraq...

John Phillips
Goal! 2: Living the Dream Gavin Harris
The Girl in the Park
The Girl in the Park
The Girl in the Park is a drama film by writer/director David Auburn, who makes his directorial debut here after having written the films Proof in 2005 and The Lake House in 2006...

Chris
2008 The Eye
The Eye (2008 film)
The Eye is a 2008 supernatural horror film starring Jessica Alba. It is a remake of the Pang Brothers' 2002 film of the same name.-Plot:Sydney Wells is a successful classical violinist who has been blind since the age of five. Fifteen years later, Sydney undergoes a cornea transplant, which causes...

Dr. Paul Faulkner
Five Dollars a Day
Five Dollars a Day
Five Dollars a Day is a comedy film directed by Nigel Cole, produced by Capitol Films subsidiary ThinkFilm and starring Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivola, Amanda Peet, and Sharon Stone. The project dates back to 2003 when Nick Cassavetes had signed on to direct, but a year later was replaced...

Ritchie Flynn Parker
Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love? (2008 film)
Who Do You Love? is a 2008 film named after the Bo Diddley song "Who Do You Love?". It is also known by its working title of Chess. It is a biopic of the record producer Leonard Chess and was directed by Jerry Zaks and written by Peter Martin Wortmann and Robert Conte. Leonard Chess was played by...

Leonard Chess
2009 Coco Before Chanel Arthur 'Boy' Capel
Boy Capel
Captain Arthur Edward "Boy" Capel CBE was an English polo player, possibly best-remembered for being a lover and muse of fashion designer Coco Chanel.-Biography:...

2010 Howl
Howl (film)
First Howl is an upcoming horror film directed by David Flores and written by Clint Morris and stars Parisse Boothe, Eric Stoltz and Kristina Anapau...

Luther Nichols
Janie Jones
Janie Jones (film)
Janie Jones is a 2010 American film by writer/director David M. Rosenthal. It stars Alessandro Nivola, Elizabeth Shue, Brittany Snow, and Abigail Breslin as the eponymous Janie Jones. The film makes extensive use of original music created by Gemma Hayes and Eef Barzelay and sung and played by...

Ethan Brand
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1996 Remember WENN
Remember WENN
Remember WENN is a comedy-drama television series that aired from 1996 to 1998 on the cable channel American Movie Classics. Created and written by Rupert Holmes and set at the fictional Pittsburgh radio station WENN in the early 1940s, it depicted events in the personal and professional lives of...

Paul Rice Episode: Valentino Speaks!
The Ring
The Ring (1996 film)
The Ring is a 1996 film, directed by Armand Mastroianni, written by Danielle Steel and starring Nastassja Kinski and Michael York.- Plot :...

Noel TV-Movie
1998 The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery Doug TV-Movie
2007 The Company
The Company (TV miniseries)
The Company is a miniseries about the activities of the CIA during the Cold War. It was based on the best selling novel by Robert Littell. The teleplay adaptation was written by Ken Nolan.-Plot:...

Leo Kritzky Miniseries

Awards and nominations

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
  • 1998: Nominated, "Favorite Supporting Actor in an Action/Adventure Film" - Face/Off


Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...

  • 2004: Nominated, "Best Supporting Male" - Laurel Canyon

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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